Masters v Cameron (1954)

Case Facts for Masters v Cameron 1954 91 CLR 353 

Cameron and Masters had an agreement for the selling of Cameron’s farm worth 17,500 pounds. In the agreement between the two parties, a detailed description of the farm was included.

Another detail, considered as a provision in the agreement, is that the agreement first signed by the parties is pre-contract for the final contract for the sale which will be accepted by the solicitor of Cameron if the terms and the conditions are not altered. 

Case Issue: 

 The issue in the Masters v Cameron case is whether or not the pre-contract can already be considered as the final contract since the terms and the conditions were not altered.

Case Decision:

The court decided that the pre-contract agreed upon by Cameron and Masters cannot be considered as a final contract for the sale because of the circumstances suggest that it was still not the final contract.  

Case Reasons: 

 First, in order for the agreement to take effect immediately, it must only contain the terms and conditions agreed upon by the parties.

Second, the intention to be legally binding can be carried so long as the current agreement does not indicate that a suspension of a term or condition will be made once a formal document has been signed. 

Lastly, the circumstance/s indicates that the parties do not want to be bound by the contract before a formal document has been executed. With this on hand, considering that a term in the pre-contract of Cameron and Masters indicating that is subjected to preparation, therefore, Cameron does not consider the contract to be legally binding.